Six-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez has revealed the pain he’s riding with at the Dutch Grand Prix following a frightening incident in Friday practice.
Marquez last night qualified a career-worst 20th after crashing out in Q1 at Assen.
The 28-year-old, who last weekend scored his first race win since a lengthy injury lay-off, admitted post-session he’d been affected by his Free Practice 2 highside.
“I mean, it’s true that today I started the morning and the first thing was like ‘okay, it will be impossible to ride the bike’ because [after] the crash from yesterday I had a lot of pain on the right foot and I was not able to push with the right arm,” said Marquez.
“Then it was very difficult. This was in the morning, then in the afternoon step-by-step I feel better, and this makes me happy because looks like now if it’s in a better way, tomorrow will be even better.
“And apart from that, in the afternoon I was able to ride fast alone and behind.
“In the first run I did the lap time alone, then in the second run I had the chance to follow Zarco for some laps but in my last lap – okay, I touched the green – but I did a 1:33s-low, 1:33s-middle, which is very good pace on a used tyre.
“It’s true that the crash from yesterday affected me a lot today.”
Maverick Viñales claimed pole position with a record-breaking lap, with Fabio Quartararo making it a Monster Energy Yamaha one-two.
The 26-lap race – the last before the MotoGP summer break – will start at 22:00 AEST tonight.
